


Safekeeping

by Aichi



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: M/M, Merfolk AU, Mild Gore, Soft Vore, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 11:54:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17324525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aichi/pseuds/Aichi
Summary: Merfolk AU. Luard makes an unlikely friend who ends up saving him from trouble in a very unlikely way. (Check notes for clarification on tags.)





	Safekeeping

**Author's Note:**

> EXTRA NOTES ABOUT THE TAGS PLEASE READ: The violent elements of this work are not directly involved with the vore in any way. This is safe, soft vore with no digestion. Please also note that while it is not traumatic or unpleasant, the vore is also not pre-negotiated and technically not consented to due to the nature of the situation. Please be careful if this is upsetting to you.
> 
> Anyway, I can't believe I finally publish my first Shiralua and it's the most self-indulgent thing ever. I wanted to write nice soft vore for.. probably about three years now, so, here you go, I guess.
> 
> The Mer AU was just a Colorful Pastrale joke that got out of hand, really.

When Luard first got tangled in the fishing net, trapped with his arms pinned to his sides and the netting pulled so tightly around him he could barely move his tail, he’d been pretty sure he was about to die squirming and choking on the deck of some fishing vessel.

A moment later, when the huge deep-sea merdragon glided out of the depths and casually scooped him into its maw, the net shredding easily between its teeth, the fishing boat had suddenly seemed like an excellent alternative after all.

He hadn’t expected the dragon to spit him back out and use a single gigantic claw to carefully pull away the rest of the net.

He certainly hadn’t expected it to _apologize_ to him for the ordeal.

 

 

All his life, like all merfolk, Luard had been taught to fear carnivorous merdragons – they were his kind’s greatest predator, it was said, and there was no way to fight back if one came after you. They were stronger, swifter, and much, _much_ larger, and even a single one of their teeth or claws could pierce and kill you instantly.

But Shiranui, he’s come to learn over the past few months, is anything but ordinary, and it’s hard to extend to him the fear and hate that Luard holds for most of his kind. The dragon is surprisingly gentle, or as much as a carnivore can be, anyway – it’s not something they talk about, generally, but Luard hasn’t forgotten when they first met and Shiranui was practically remorseful at the very _idea_ of eating him. He’s never seen the dragon actually eat meat at all, come to think of it, but it’s probably more out of consideration than an indication that he _doesn’t_ – which in itself is just another oddity, because why would a predator care what his prey thinks of him?

Honestly, Luard tries not to think about it too much. Pondering over it is just frustrating, because maybe “he didn’t kill me that one time” isn’t really a good enough reason not to hate someone whose people regularly kill and eat yours, and it’s already unnerving enough being _friends_ – if that’s what this is – with someone probably ten times your size without thinking about the fact that normally they should be trying to eat you.

Besides, it’s not like Luard has never hurt anyone. But that’s something else he doesn’t think about.

Instead, he settles back against the rock at their appointed meeting place, curling his tail carefully under him as he waits for Shiranui to arrive. The outcropping is far enough from any merfolk settlement that they shouldn’t run into too much trouble, but close enough for Luard to make the journey almost every day, which he does. A convenient piece of overhanging rock serves as a shelter for him in cases, like today, when he arrives first – the water in this area can be murky in poor weather, and reduced visibility is dangerous when you’re a Designated Prey Species.

Not that his experiences amongst his own species have been stellar either, he thinks wryly as he waits. Babd and Dagda have always been good to him, far more than he deserves – and Babd especially might even pass as his real biological family, with her similarly dark scales lit by blue and pink highlights, although she lacks his bright green tail flukes – but, them aside, he doesn’t exactly have a lot of positive influences. There’s probably more merfolk out to arrest him than there are looking to be friends.

He wonders if what he’s doing right now is illegal, and a little bit of guilt pools in the pit of his stomach.

At the same time, a huge dragon-shaped shadow coasts by his hiding spot.

Luard’s immediate reaction is to freeze, the blue bioluminescent markings on his tail dimming instinctively as he presses himself closer to the rock – and even as he does so, he feels stupid, and the frustration he’d been pushing down bubbles back to the surface again. It’s not the first time Shiranui’s been early, and Luard can’t really judge, given how early he was himself, but the reaction is just another reminder that Shiranui is supposed to be the _enemy_. With his heart somewhat heavier than he would like, he straightens up, tail flexing and uncurling in a smooth, practised motion to push himself away from the rock and out into the open water to meet–

His train of thought screeches to a halt as he comes face to face with something that is Definitely Not Shiranui.

Up close, he’s not even sure if it’s a _dragon_. It’s even bigger than Shiranui, and its body is a horrible amalgamation of spikes that seems to have far too many eyes – and the four on what is probably its face swivel unnaturally to zero in on Luard even as he freezes in place again, their nauseatingly bright green glow enveloping his body in a way that feels horrible and invasive, like its gaze is penetrating his skin.

With a deep creaking groan, the thing opens its mouth, revealing hundreds of long, needle-like teeth.

Luard feels ill. There’s nowhere for him to go, he realizes. His former hiding spot is no good if the thing knows where to look, and civilization is too far away. Not that he would ever stand a chance of outswimming the thing, anyway. All he can do is watch as the creature unfurls its massive neon purple tail and glides towards him with a single, powerful kick, the glow of its eyes enveloping him even more as it approaches, the light seeping into his scales and making him feel stiff and heavy.

As it moves, two huge, clawed arms unfold from somewhere beneath the incomprehensible array of spines – and then two more follow, and Luard doesn’t even have the energy left in him to feel any worse about the situation. Its eyes are still fixed on him, and his on it, its gaze almost hypnotic somehow, surrounding him, cloying, choking, consuming–

“ **Luard!** ”

A shockwave ripples through the water as something huge barrels up from below, sending Luard tumbling head over flukes, his brain struggling to catch up with his body as his eyes are torn away from the creature’s.

For a moment, he’s in awe of how light he suddenly feels, but as he rights himself, a weight sinks into his stomach again.

The smell of copper in the water hits him, and he gags when he realizes where it’s coming from. Shiranui’s deep purple scales are split open by a horrible gash running from his hip to near the very tip of his tail, and the creature’s teeth are sunk deep into his arm, the lights in its eyes flaring wildly as it shakes back and forth. In return, the claws of Shiranui’s free hand scrape at the underside of the creature’s belly, where the spines part and make way for what looks to be rough, leathery skin. It lets out a muffled screech as a claw finds its mark, and its four arms flail furiously, churning the water and making Luard fight to stay upright.

Somehow, as he watches the two roll back and forth, Luard feels even more terrifyingly helpless than he had in Shiranui’s jaws. The dragon is struggling, he can tell, even with the other creature’s teeth now dislodged from his arm, and more and more red is staining the water. He needs to do something. Anything. Staying out of the way isn’t an option.

The decision is made for him when the creature slams its tail powerfully into Shiranui’s side, sending him reeling, and immediately swivels several eyes back towards Luard. With another kick, it propels itself towards him, and he doesn’t even have time to _begin_ to swim for his life before its horrible hook-like claws are around him. The feeling of their frigid touch sinks straight to his bones.

Shiranui _roars_ , in a way that Luard has never heard before, a way that’s both terrifying and heartbreaking. Righting himself in an instant, he streaks forward, mouth open, and his teeth completely envelop both Luard’s entire body and the thing’s hand as they connect with its wrist with a sickening crunch.

Despite being suddenly plunged into darkness, the sharp, horrible snapping sound that follows tells Luard everything he needs to know.

Almost immediately, the claws around him fall limp, but before Luard can attempt to wiggle free, his entire world tips. Stunned and disoriented, he tumbles free of the creature’s severed hand, falling on something soft and warm amidst what is probably more blood than water.

The surface shifts, and heaves, and for a moment the space is flooded with blinding light cut by the sharp shadows of teeth – and then it’s gone, and so is the creature’s hand, leaving Luard lying dazed in the rapidly-draining pool of thick, revoltingly coppery liquid.

“ **Luard.** ”

The sound practically vibrates in his bones, seemingly coming from everywhere at once, and it takes him a moment to realize it’s Shiranui speaking.

“ **Luard, I’m going to swallow you.** ”

A quiet groan escaping his lips, Luard tries to sit up, but the flickering light accompanying the voice and the constant movement of the surface under him make his already-dizzy head pound. Even trying to sort the rumbling sounds into words is too much for him, apparently, because it sounded like Shiranui said–

“ **Don’t worry. You’ll be safe. I promise.** ”

Luard barely manages a “wha–” before everything tips again, his body tumbling helplessly towards what must be the back of Shiranui’s mouth. He makes a weak attempt to cling to the top of the tongue beneath him, but it simply lifts and presses him back, and a cold, primal fear grips his heart as his body slides headfirst into the dragon’s throat, dragged down by a rush of blood and drool and seawater.

_Shiranui_ wouldn’t _– he would never– he doesn’t eat meat... right?_

The thoughts roll aimlessly around Luard’s head as the first throat muscles begin to contract around him, drawing his head and shoulders further in while his tail, still sticking out into the dragon’s mouth, flops back and forth uselessly. His whole body feels cold, and so, so tired, and for a moment he wants to cry, because he can’t understand _why_ , after all this time, Shiranui would turn on him. Would he simply rather eat Luard himself than let some other predator do it? Was he planning to do so all along, and just saw an opportunity? Or–

_Or–_

_You’ll be safe, he’d said._

Luard is dimly aware that he might be right, at least at first, because merdragons, like regular merfolk, _did_ have two stomachs, the first simply holding food before the second was ready to digest it, and there _were_ stories about lucky survivors who clawed their way back up and out before a predator could digest them, but those sort of things were more like rumours, urban legends, spread by kids who had just learned about the digestive tract in science class more than anything else. It didn’t _really_ happen.

Muscles clench around him again as the dragon’s throat pulls him in up to the hips, his arms pinned uselessly against his sides.

_At least for now it’s safer in here than out there_ , he thinks, grimly, and then the realization hits him, and his own stomach does a flip at the concept.

Shiranui is _protecting_ him.

It’s just like all those months ago, when he’d been afraid he was going to die in a fishing net, and then even more afraid that he was going to be devoured, only to find that Shiranui wasn’t like that. Isn’t like that. Was so genuine in his apology for scaring him the first time that it’s honestly offensive that Luard would even _think_ that of him now, even given the circumstances. If he’s safe in here, then of course Shiranui is free to fight without worrying about him. Maybe the other creature will even lose interest completely once its prey disappears. And then Shiranui can – _will hopefully_ – simply release him.

With a gross, muted sucking sound, his tail is drawn completely into Shiranui’s throat, his flukes instinctively softening and folding together to prevent injury. Luard’s whole body is encased now, squeezed so tightly by soft, yet powerful muscle that he could barely struggle even if he wanted to. Undulating gently, almost as if they were giving a massage, the muscles move him along, aided by the slick coating of drool his scales picked up in the dragon’s mouth.

Luard can barely sense anything from the outside world now, he realizes. The only sound is a dull, background roaring that could be either Shiranui’s or his own blood pumping in his ears, and the sensation of the throat squeezing around him overwhelms any sense he might have been able to make of Shiranui’s movements. He really is totally, utterly helpless until Shiranui decides to do something with him, and the idea is somehow relieving, because he is so, so exhausted.

Shiranui will definitely be okay, he thinks, dimly. He’s definitely stronger than that... that _thing_. Definitely.

It’s getting harder and harder to think at all, with the way the throat softly kneads all the tension out of him as he slides down.

He’s not sure how long he stay in there, like that, just slowly moving along through no effort of his own. It feels like forever, and yet no time at all. The icy fear that had filled him at first has long since drained away, and his thoughts are barely coherent, sliding back and forth between quiet relaxation and concern for Shiranui’s safety. He’ll definitely be okay, Luard tells himself again. He’s strong. He’d said not to worry. Everything is so warm, and Luard is so sleepy, and the throat lining stroking against his scales feels so nice, and Shiranui says not to worry, so he doesn’t.

The eventual sensation of being squeezed out into an open area barely even registers with him. Accompanied by a thick globule of saliva, he drops gently into the warm, wet chamber, half-filled with a similarly warm liquid, and without even thinking, lets himself settle relaxingly into it as if it were a hot spring.

For a long time, he lies there, wherever _there_ is, because he’s too addled to think anymore. The liquid in the cavern feels refreshingly clean compared to the saliva coating him, and seems to do an excellent job of rinsing the latter from his hair as he dips his head beneath the surface and raises it again. The heat is comfortable, too, just enough to make him even sleepier but not enough to make it difficult to breathe, and the chamber is small and soft enough that he still feels secure and encased despite not being squeezed anymore. As the warmth sinks deeper and deeper into his skin and scales, any lingering tension he might have held in his thoughts or muscles simply melts away.

He could definitely fall asleep in here, he thinks, and almost does.

“ **Luard?** ”

The voice is dim, distant this time, and low enough not to startle him, but it still vibrates through his whole body and sends ripples across the surface of the liquid.

That’s right, his brain provides, after what feels like far too long. Shiranui. He’s in Shiranui’s first stomach.

“ **I’m okay.** ” Shiranui answers his question before his brain can even think to ask it. “ **It's safe.** **I’m going to let you out in just a minute. Hold on.** ”

_Wait_ , he almost wants to say, but the word vanishes somewhere between his brain and his mouth. He’s not even sure Shiranui would be able to hear him anyway.

A moment later, the walls of the cavern begin to tighten, and before he can even wonder how exactly this is supposed to work, muscles are contracting around him and forcing him, headfirst again, back into the oesophagus. The trip goes much quicker this time around, the dragon’s throat tissues twitching and pushing frantically as they try to expel what they probably instinctively see as an intrusion. A deep, almost pained gurgling rumbles around him, and his body is roughly shoved along in a way that is not entirely unpleasant in itself, but certainly much less calming and leisurely than before. Uncertainty begins to creep back into his heart with the thought that he might be harming Shiranui by doing this, but before he has the chance to think it through, his body is launched up into the dragon’s mouth accompanied by a wet retching noise.

Even filtered through so much water, the sunlight is enough to blind him as he’s expelled into Shiranui’s palm amidst a torrent of mucus and saliva. As he rolls to shield himself, a spasm ripples up his body and another glob of Shiranui’s saliva bubbles out of his own mouth. He gags, wiping himself with the back of his palm.

“ **Are you alright?** ” Shiranui asks.

“I– I’m fine,” Luard manages to gasp out, willing his shivering to subside and blinking desperately as he readjusts to the light.

“ **I apologize for taking such drastic action.** ” Shiranui continues quietly – or as quietly as possible for someone so large. “ **I... did not have time to think. I needed to save you.** ”

“It’s okay,” Luard says, and he means it. Feeling confident enough in his eyesight, he rolls back over, propping himself up on his tail – and at the sight of Shiranui’s body, a lump catches in his throat, and his stomach feels suddenly heavy, and he wonders how he could have dared to _enjoy himself_ while _this_ was happening.

The wound running up the length of Shiranui’s tail is even worse than it originally appeared, still leaking significant amounts of red into the water, and one of his flukes is bent at an unnatural angle, still swishing back and forth slowly to keep him in place despite the undoubtedly horrible pain that Luard can practically _feel_ just from the sight of it. Another long, open gash has joined the dozens of tooth-inflicted punctures on the dragon’s arm, leading from his shoulder almost to his elbow, and that, too, is still openly bleeding.

Luard bites back a bitter sob at the thought that it’s _his_ fault for being a stupid reckless idiot.

“ **Are you sure you’re unharmed?** ” Shiranui asks again, peering down at him, eyes soft with concern. “ **And not just physically?** ”

“I’m fine,” Luard repeats, his voice edged a little with anger – not at Shiranui, of course. “But what about _you_? Look at you!”

Shiranui dips his head. “ **I will be alright,** ” he says, almost apologetically. “ **It looks bad, but dragons heal deceptively quickly.** ” He draws Luard closer to his chest, and slowly, carefully raises his injured hand, petting him gently with the back of a single claw. “ **What matters is that you’re safe.** ”

It’s always hard to argue with him when he talks like that, and Luard is realizing once again how exhausted he really is.

“Okay,” he says, the words simply spilling out of his mouth, “just, next time? Promise me you’ll eat me straight away and just swim for it. Don’t get hurt again.” His scales start to heat up the moment he stops speaking, and he turns away to hide the colour undoubtedly also rising in his cheeks.

“ **Next time?** ” He can hear the smile in Shiranui’s voice. “ **You’re not planning on getting in trouble again, are you?** ”

“No–!! I mean, I didn’t do it on _purpose_. I just meant– Look–” He trails off with an embarrassed huff.

There’s silence, for a moment, and Shiranui continues quietly petting him.

Luard coughs up a little more mucus.

“It wasn’t so bad,” he says, very quietly.

“ **Hmm?** ”

“The, uh, swallowing,” Luard adds, before he can change his mind. “Just. As long as you don’t, you know, actually digest me, I mean. It was kind of relaxing. Being in there. Like that.” _Shut up, idiot_.

“ **...** **I see.** ”

“I’m just saying,” he mumbles.

Shiranui laughs, in that warm and comforting way he does that makes Luard feel like, for all the mistakes he’s made, that maybe things are okay, actually.

“ **I was surprised at myself,** ” Shiranui admits, “ **and somewhat ashamed** **for even considering it** **at all** **. But it was to save your life.** **And i** **f it was truly a good experience, then, well–** ”

It’s his turn to trail off, and to turn his gaze away, and Luard suddenly feels a prickle of shame for not considering how Shiranui might feel, and maybe this was all massively insensitive, actually – a feeling which instantly turns back to embarrassment when the dragon finishes his thought.

“– **I will certainly keep it in mind.** ”

**Author's Note:**

> Shiranui's dialogue is BOLD to emphasize his LARGE and BEEFY nature. Please Understand.
> 
> Bonus Points to anyone who worked out that the unnamed monster is also based on a Certain Unit.
> 
> Obligatory Twitter Plug: @cosmowreath


End file.
